Cranford resident Matt Schwebel was inspired to fight for a lifting of the no-biking policy at Watchung Reservation after driving by this sign last July. Watchung Reservation is one of two parks in New Jersey that doesn't allow cyclists to ride its trails.
(Courtesy Matt Schwebel)

The sign that first caught Matt Schwebel’s attention advertised 40 miles of trails on 2,000 acres at Watchung Reservation.

He noticed it about a year ago while driving home to Cranford after work, and following a weekend trip that had given him a chance to go mountain biking.

But those trails were not for biking, much to Schwebel’s dismay.

"I was thinking, ‘This place is huge. It’s nuts you can’t ride here,’ " Schwebel said. "That weekend is when I just started firing off emails."

Though most state and county parks in New Jersey allow cyclists on either dedicated biking paths or trails shared with hikers and horseback riders, Watchung Reservation in Union County and South Mountain Reservation in Essex County have bike bans in place.

Schwebel, with the backing of the Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association, has been pushing to have the ban lifted from the Watchung Reservation.

"All they really have to do is stop enforcing it," Schwebel said. "A lot of people actually do bike there already. But I’m in my 30s, and I have kids. I can’t be running from police on my bike."

Union County officials say they’re looking at whether the ban could be lifted, but note that doing so would be more involved than expected.

"We do want to find a way to do something, but I think we are still a while away," Union County spokesman Sebastian D’Elia said. "We’re reviewing the policy to see what we can do, rather than not do. We want to do something, and hopefully we’ll be hearing something back within the next few months."

D’Elia said the county will eventually develop a trails master plan for the reservation which, in part, would examine whether those trails could support mountain biking.

After that’s done, a number of issues would still remain, he said, such as crafting a bike policy from scratch. Officials would need to determine if there would be bike-only trails, whether cyclists would have to register with the park, and what other restrictions might make sense.

D’Elia said the trails have been closed to cyclists for as long as he can remember. He said he’s unsure of the reasons why, but that it likely has to do with the physical shape of the trails — some might be too narrow for bikes, while others could be vulnerable to erosion.

Union County Freeholder Chairman Christopher Hudak said he’s asked that the no-bike policy be reviewed because he’s received requests from residents who want mountain biking allowed.

Hudak said he wants to see the county do a risk assessment to figure out if bicycles would actually damage the trails. If bikes are found to be safe, the freeholder board could then set a policy detailing rules for biking the Watchung trails.

"If we can implement it, how do we do it so that we can balance this activity with what we have going on in the reservation?" he said. "The one thing we should not be doing in our parks is trying to keep our feet in cement. Activities change."

After about a year of asking for trail access, Schwebel said he’s frustrated there has not been more progress.

"The speed that this is moving, it doesn’t make sense to me," he said. "We’re talking about riding a bicycle in the woods. I’m not talking about developing or drilling for oil."

Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association Executive Director Ken Seebeck has been with the bike trail advocacy group for nearly 10 years and said the Watchung trails have been off-limits to cyclists for at least that long.

"It’s a healthy pursuit, and it’s a way to get kids out in the woods in our increasingly unhealthy society," Seebeck said. "The health benefits alone in just getting kids away from the TV and getting them out in the woods — that in itself is a very strong argument to allow people to ride their bikes."

Seebeck believes the Watchung bike ban comes from a fear of conflict between groups of people using the trails for different purposes, whether it’s hikers, bikers or equestrians.

Mountain bikers in JORBA are trained in trail etiquette so they know to yield to people on foot or on horseback, Seebeck said. The group also maintains multi-use trails at 26 New Jersey parks, some of which its volunteers have helped design to avoid any sort of user conflict.

As an example of trail users coming together, Seebeck pointed to Allaire State Park in Monmouth County. There, mountain bikers, equestrians and hikers formed the volunteer organization Allaire Trail Users Group to maintain and improve the park’s multi-use trails.

"Ever since then there’s been no conflict whatsoever, besides horses leaving you a gift once in a while," Seebeck said. "But that’s natural. It’s been awesome."